Konami
, commonly referred to as Konami, is a Japanese entertainment company. It operates as a product distributor (which produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines and arcade cabinets), video game developer and publisher company. It also operates health and physical fitness clubs across Japan. Konami is famous for popular video game series such as Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, Parodius, TwinBee, Ganbare Goemon, Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Suikoden, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dance Dance Revolution, Pro Evolution Soccer and Frogger. Konami is the twentieth-largest game company in the world by revenue. The company originated in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan, by Kagemasa Kōzuki, who remains the company's chairman. The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa Kō'zuki, Yoshinobu '''Na'kama and Tatsuo 'Mi'yasako. Konami is currently headquartered in Tokyo. In the United States, Konami manages its video game business from offices in El Segundo, California and its casino gaming business from offices in Paradise, Nevada. Its Australian gaming operations are located in Sydney. As of March 2016, it owns 21 consolidated subsidiaries around the world. Corporate structure Konami Digital Entertainment is Konami's Japanese video game development and publishing division founded on March 31, 2006. Before Konami Corporation had formally changed to a holding company in 2006, various forms of Konami Digital Entertainment companies had been established either as holding company or publisher. The last of the company, the Japan-based Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., was split from Konami Corporation during the holding company restructuring process. Former subsidiaries Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya '''Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya (also known as KCE Nagoya, KCEN, Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya, Inc. and Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya Co., Ltd.) is a former subsidiary of Konami Corporation. Originally founded on October 1st, 1996, it was dissolved along with Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe (KCEK) in December, 2002. Released games *''Castlevania Legends'' *''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'' (Saturn) Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe , or KCEK, was a Kobe-based subsidiary of Konami Corporation. The company was established in 1998 when the first development division at KCE Osaka was spun off. It was merged back into KCEO in December, 2002.Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe at MobyGames. It developed three Castlevania games: Castlevania (N64), Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, prior to when Koji Igarashi (IGA) at KCET returned and became the director of the franchise. The games developed by this company were relegated as non-canonical until Portrait of Ruin was released. The team responsible for creating these games were absorbed into IGA's team after KCEK was combined with KCET and has contributed to Portrait of Ruin and later games. Released games *''Castlevania'' (N64) *''Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness'' *''Konami Krazy Racers'' *''Castlevania: Circle of the Moon'' Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, (also known as KCET, KCE Tokyo, Konami TYO and Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo Co., Ltd.) is a former subsidiary of Konami Corporation. Konami absorbed KCET along with several of its other subsidiaries in 2005. KCET was a Tokyo-based game developer responsible for many of Konami's most notable video game franchises, including Pro Evolution Soccer/''Winning Eleven'', Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, Gradius and Silent Hill. Released games *''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'' *''Castlevania Chronicles'' *''Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance'' *''Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow'' *''Castlevania: Lament of Innocence'' Konami Computer Entertainment Japan Konami JPN Ltd., formerly Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (KCEJ), is a video game developer and subsidiary of Konami Corporation, located in Tokyo. The development house has worked on titles for a wide variety of platforms, ranging from Game Boy to PlayStation. KCEJ is split into two different development teams, located in two offices in Tokyo. KCEJ East developed 7 Blades as well as a number of dating sims for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Game Boy. KCEJ West is known for the best-selling Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the Beatmania and GuitarFreaks series. On April 1, 2005, KCEJ (along with KCET and KCES) merged with its parent company. Hideo Kojima (the company's former vice president) formed his own subsidiary, Kojima Productions. Megacyber Corporation On October 2, 2006, Konami Corporation announced it had completed the acquisition of mobile phone content developer Megacyber Corporation. On February 6, 2007, Konami Corporation announced Megacyber Corporation to be merged into Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., with Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. being the surviving company, effective on April 1, 2007. Video games Major titles by Konami include the vampire-hunting side-scroller Castlevania series, the survival horror Silent Hill series, the action/shooter Contra series, the platform/adventure Ganbare Goemon series, the espionage action Metal Gear series, the console role-playing Suikoden series, the music-oriented Bemani series (which includes Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania IIDX, GuitarFreaks, DrumMania and pop'n Music, among others), Dancing with the Stars, the dating simulation Tokimeki Memorial series and football simulation Pro Evolution Soccer. Konami also produced its shoot 'em up arcade games such as Gradius, Life Force, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Parodius, Axelay and TwinBee. Konami's games based on cartoon licenses, especially the Batman: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tiny Toon Adventures series, but other American productions like The Simpsons, Bucky O'Hare, G.I. Joe, The Goonies and the French production Asterix, all have seen release at some point in the past by Konami either on arcades and/or video game consoles. Recent cinematically-styled franchises from Konami are the continuing Silent Hill survival horror franchise and the Metal Gear series, which underwent a public renaissance with Metal Gear Solid. Another successful franchise is Winning Eleven, the spiritual sequel to International Superstar Soccer, which is extremely popular in Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Europe, where it is sold by the name Pro Evolution Soccer. And in Japan, it is known for the extremely popular Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū series baseball series and the Zone of the Enders games. The company has also recently picked up Saw from Brash Entertainment when the game's production had been suspended due to financial issues. Konami is also known for its password, the Konami Code, which traditionally gives many power-ups in its games. Although variants also exist, as in the Parodius series and button naming can differ depending on the controller used, the classic NES combination is: ↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, ←, →, ←, →, B, A. However, use of this code in more recent Konami productions has been sparse. Significance of the numbers "5 7 3" in Konami products Konami is often represented by the goroawase (wordplay) number "573". In the Japanese language, "five" is translated to "go", changed from the voiceless form "ko". "Nana" is "seven" in Japanese and is referred to "na" for short. "Three" translates to "mi", the shortened word for "mittsu". People that speak Japanese are known to mix goroawase numbers freely to create phrases that improve recollection of large numbers. For example, they are commonly used to memorize phone numbers and exam identifications. Correspondingly, mixing "ko", "na" and "mi" together spells out the company's name. A notable Castlevania game that includes this goroawase number is Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Videos See also *Konami Code References External links *Konami's online shop (Japanese) *Dengeki PlayStation 573 Loves Konami… And Suikoden As Well! *Summary of Goroawase Numbers de:Konami es:Konami Category:Konami